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Chicagoist knew there'd be plenty of surprises during Sunday's college football Bowl Championship Series selections, given the losses by the two top-ranked team on Saturday and then general tumult among the top ranked teams all season long.
Among the biggest surprises was the Rose Bowl's selection of the Fighting Illini to play against the USC Trojans on New Year's Day.
The Illini did knock off Wisconsin when they were ranked fifth, and they handed Ohio State their lone defeat of the season when they were the top team in the country. But at 9-3, and ranked 13th in the final BCS rankings, the choice was not necessarily expected. But the Rose Bowl chose to stick with their traditional Big Ten-Pac 10 pairing, and the Illini received the bid ahead of some higher ranked teams.
The fact that the Illini were anywhere close to being eligible for a BCS bid is amazing. After winning just two games in each of his first two seasons in Champaign, coach Ron Zook has turned around a program not typically among the Big Ten's elite. Is the first trip to Pasadena in 26 years the beginning of a new era in Illini football?
Those looking for tickets to the Rose Bowl can check out the official site or the Illini's official site for info.
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A 3 loss team does not belong in the BCS. You know what would've made for a fantastic game? USC vs. UGA. Instead I have to watch Illinois get steamrolled.
The Big Ten was awful, just awful this year.
College footbal makes no sense. What about Mizzou? I don't understand how people can be fans of a sport that has no coherent ranking system and then seemingly random teams end up in the "Nextel All Cup Bowl" or whatever.
there's no way that the illini should be in a bcs game. if a big ten team is going to be part of the rose bowl, it should have been the overrated buckeyes (who shouldn't be in the national championship game).
i'm a big ten graduate, but c'mon!
I'm happy for Illinois plus I love the Rose Bowl Pac10/Big 10 tradition. I think it's great and that Illinois should not be discounted. Their team will be the one to beat next year. Go Juice!
It really isn't surprising that the Illini were chosen to play in the Rose Bowl, considering that it's a 50 year old tradition to have the Big Ten play the Pac Ten in the tournament. There's no way you can call Ohio State overrated when every other top rated team went down this year.
The BCS ranking makes perfect sense if you understand it. There's a reason that Hawaii isn't a top ranked team despite being 12-0. They just don't have a hard schedule. The Illini may be 9-3 but their losses were to: Mizzou in the first game of the season, if you were watching it was a fantastic game, the Illini made a huge comeback despite losing their star quarterback early in the game. Then they lost to Iowa, admittedly a poor standing, but it's hard for any big ten team to play at another school. Their only other loss was to number 5 ranked Michigan at Michigan. The Illini beat #5 ranked Wisconsin and #1 ranked Ohio State, Ohio's only loss this season.
The reason people like the Illini this year is because they are interesting. They are a young team that has done a complete turn around in the past year. Shame on you if you went to a Big Ten school and think the Big Ten is overrated. Ohio fell apart in the championship last year but that doesn't mean that the Big Ten is overrated.
The BCS ranking system is better than a playoff system, and if you need more explanation I encourage you to read this Tribune article from Saturday: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-071130teddy,0,5731189.column.
I'm sick of people saying that the BCS system is whack, because it is way more exciting than the NFL. Voting on who is the best team takes into account more than simply looking at a team's record. It is not "random" that Mizzou isn't going to the championship, they lost on Saturday, so their ranking went down. My favorite part of Teddy's Greenstein's article is this:
"And amid all the fun, we have people yelling that the sport has to change. It needs a playoff system. Why? So the casual fans who are confused by the BCS and the angry columnists who write about college football three times a year can get finality."
Pretty much sums it up to me.